City of Philadelphia v. Chin

• Decision Date: 09 December 1987
• Citation: 535 A.2d 110,369 Pa.Super. 182
• Parties: CITY OF PHILADELPHIA v. King Kai CHIN, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 110

535 A.2d 110

369 Pa.Super. 182

CITY OF PHILADELPHIA v. King Kai CHIN, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Sept. 11, 1987.

Filed Dec. 9, 1987.

Louis Perez, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Susan B. Eiseman, Philadelphia, for appellee.

Before MONTEMURO, POPOVICH and CERCONE, JJ.

MONTEMURO, Judge:

This is an appeal from the trial court's denial of appellant's petition to compel satisfaction of redemption. The facts of this case are essentially undisputed. King Kai Chin, appellant herein, failed to pay municipal taxes on real estate which he owned at 216 North Twelfth Street, Philadelphia. As a result, the property was sold at sheriff's sale on April 4, 1983. The successful bidder thereafter assigned his right to purchase the real estate to S.R. Friends, a general partnership and appellee herein. ¹ S.R. Friends paid the purchase price and took title to real estate by sheriff's deed. Chin filed a timely petition to redeem the property, and redemption was allowed by court order dated August 30, 1983. Dispute then arose between the parties as to the appropriate amount of money which Chin was required to pay to redeem the property. Unsatisfied with the sum tendered by Chin to redeem, S.R. Friends filed a petition to set aside the order of redemption. When the trial court dismissed this petition, S.R. Friends appealed to this court.

In City of Philadelphia v. King Kai Chin, 354 Pa.Super. 115, 511 A.2d 214 (1986), we reversed the trial court, finding that S.R. Friends was entitled, pursuant to 53 P.S. § 7293(a), to be reimbursed for certain expenses it incurred while it was in possession of the property. We remanded to permit the trial court to make findings of fact and to determine the necessary expenses actually paid by S.R. Friends, less rents collected, and all other amounts, in addition to the amount bid at the sheriff's sale, for which S.R. Friends was entitled to be reimbursed. Id. at 119-120, 511 A.2d at 216-17. The trial court, upon remand, set a hearing date of July 29, 1986. Before the hearing date, Chin and S.R. Friends were able to agree that Chin would need to pay the sum of $51,902.28 to redeem the property. In accordance with the parties' agreement and stipulation, the trial court entered an Order that this payment be made by September 2, 1986. The trial court thereafter granted an extension of time until September 15, 1986, for Chin to make payment of the agreed upon sum.

On September 15, 1986, Mr. Thomas M. Jackal, attorney for S.R. Friends, received a certified check from Chin which was drawn on the National Bank of North America, New York, N.Y. The check was payable to Mr. Chin and his attorney as follows: "Samael [sic] Pepper and King Kai Chin." ² The check was payable in the amount of "5,5,000.--" (crossed off) and "55,000.--" (written above). Mr. Chin's signature was written on the face of the check above this correction as well as on the signature line. On the line where the dollar amount of the check is to be entered in longhand, "fifty five thousand" dollars was clearly written. The check was stamped as "certified" by the National Bank of North America on September 15, 1986, and was signed by the bank employee who presumably had the authority to certify checks. ³ Mr. Chin and his attorney, Mr. Samuel Pepper, had endorsed the back of the check below the following typed statement: "Pay to the order of Thomas M. Jackal, Esquire, in connection with City v. Chin, March Term, 1980, No. 55466 TLD" (R. at 69).

On September 16, 1986, attorney for S.R. Friends presented this check to Provident National Bank in Philadelphia, which refused to accept the check because the amount appeared to have been altered. (R. at 25). On September 17, 1986, Chin delivered a second certified check for $55,000 payable to the order of Jerome J. Verlin, who was also an attorney for S.R. Friends. The tender of the second check was refused on the grounds that the tender was untimely because it was beyond the date set by the trial court for redemption. Chin then filed a petition to compel satisfaction of redemption and to compel transfer and recording of deed. (R. 32). Following its review of this petition and the response thereto, the trial court denied Chin's petition on November 13, 1986. In its opinion, the trial court concluded as follows:

The only issue presented to this court is whether the defendant complied with this court's order of September 2, 1986, by making timely and proper payment on September 15, 1986. In reviewing the facts of defendant's petition to compel satisfaction of redemption and the answer by the owner, S.R. Friends, and upon this court's review of the documents in question, this court is convinced that the defendant did not comply with this court's earlier order and did not make timely and proper payment to S.R. Friends. (Opinion of Tr. Court at 3).

The sole issue that we must determine is whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying Chin's petition to compel satisfaction of redemption. We find that it did and therefore we reverse.

53 P.S. § 7293(a) granted Chin the right to redeem his property after it was sold at sheriff's sale at any time "within one year from the date of the acknowledgment of the sheriff's deed therefor, upon payment of the amount of the bid at such sale ..." and payment of certain charges and necessary expenses actually paid by S.R. Friends with regard to the property, less rents or other income from the property, plus interest. Id. In City of Philadelphia v. Taylor, 318 Pa.Super. 435, 465 A.2d 33 (1983), appeal decided 326 Pa.Super. 353, 473 A.2d 1386 (1984), we faced an issue of first impression as to whether the one year redemption period in 53 P.S. § 7293(a) is mandatory or discretionary. In Taylor, the one year redemption period had expired on April 10, 1979, but the trial court had granted the appellee several extensions of time beyond this date in which to pay the redemption amount. We noted in Taylor, supra at 439, 465 A.2d at 35, that 53 P.S. § 7293(b) provides that the correct method of instituting a redemption proceeding is by petition:

(b) Any person entitled to redeem may present his petition to the proper court, setting forth the facts, and his readiness to pay the redemption money; whereupon the court shall grant a rule to show cause why the purchaser should not reconvey to him the premises sold; and if, upon hearing, the court shall be satisfied of the facts, it shall make the rule absolute, and upon payment being made or tendered, shall enforce it by attachment.

Thus, we held in that case that the time restriction of 53 P.S. § 7293(a) does not mandate that all acts of redemption, including final payment of the redemption money, must be completed within one year from the date of the acknowledgement of the sheriff's deed. On the contrary, we interpreted 53 P.S. § 7293 as requiring that the redemptor begin the redemption process within the one year period by filing the initial petition to redeem in the proper court, setting forth the facts and his readiness to redeem. Taylor, supra at 439, 465 A.2d at 35. In Taylor, the appellee had filed the initial petition to redeem well before the one year statutory deadline of April 10, 1979. Thus, we found that the dictates of § 7293 had been met even though the court held the hearing required by 53 P.S. § 7293(b) on May 7, 1979, after the one year period had expired, and even though the court set July 7, 1979, as the last day for tendering payment for redemption. Id.

In Taylor, we were guided by two major principles in our interpretation of 53 P.S. § 7293. First, we recognized that under 1 Pa.C.S. § 1928(c), "this redemption statute is to be liberally construed so as to effect its object and to promote justice." Indeed, as early as 1921, our supreme court recognized that "the privilege of redemption has always been liberally construed in Pennsylvania under the various acts of assembly regulating tax sales." City of Philadelphia v. Schaefer, 269 Pa. 550, 552-53, 112 A. 864, 864-65 (1921). However, we have recognized a competing principle, namely, that the objective of the one year redemption period is to allow the purchaser of the property to obtain a clear title. Taylor, supra. There can be no question that finality is an important objective in any redemption process.

In Taylor, we reversed and remanded in order to allow the trial court to determine the facts underlying the additional extensions of time granted to the appellee (to July 17, 1979, and thereafter to December 27, 1979) in which to pay the redemption money and, therefore, to complete the redemption process. In remanding we noted that if the extensions of time were caused by the actions of appellant in refusing to disclose to the appellee the redemption amount which the appellee would have to pay to redeem the property, then appellant could not object to the delay in the redemption process that she herself had caused. Taylor, supra at 440, 465 A.2d at 35. Upon rehearing, the trial court found that the appellant was the major contributor to the delay in the redemption process and ordered appellant to accept the sum of money tendered by the appellee. We affirmed the decision of the trial court. See City of Philadelphia v. Taylor, 326 Pa.Super. 353, 473 A.2d 1386 (1984).

The appellees would have us find that City of Philadelphia v. Taylor, supra has no application to the case at bar because S.R. Friends did not prevent Chin from tendering payment on September 15, 1986. We disagree. This is too narrow a reading of what we said in Taylor. In the instant case, Chin fully complied with the statutory method for instituting his redemption proceeding by filing his initial petition to redeem the property on May 10, 1983, only one day after the sheriff's deed was prepared. Thus, Chin was well within the one year redemption period of 53 P.S. § 7293(a). Unfortunately, the redemption process between Chin and S.R....